Hamish Harding's ominous message before he accepted place on sub

Missing British billionaire Hamish Harding ominously spoke of the importance of ‘taking steps before they go wrong’ months before accepting a place on stricken OceanGate Expeditions Titanic sub

•  Hamish Harding said last year: ‘I believe you make your own luck in life’
• READ MORE: MailOnline’s live coverage of missing submersible Titan 

In a chilling sense of forboding, missing Brit Hamish Harding spoke of the importance of ‘taking steps before they go wrong’ in a revealing interview with a Dubai-based media outlet.

He also spoke of how his family had grown accustomed to his daredevil lifestyle in a bitter twist of irony.

The intrepid explorer and millionaire who was based in Dubai and one of five Titanic tourists trapped in a missing submarine, spoke of his life philosophy in Arabian Gulf Business Insights last year.

The leader of this week’s expedition told the publication: ‘I believe you make your own luck in life. You create the environment around you, where luck comes or doesn’t come, based on your decisions, your anticipation of things going wrong, and taking steps before they go wrong.’

Last June, before launching on a Blue Origin space tourism flight, Harding had said he was not feeling nervous even though such suborbital flights were relatively new, only 20 people having made the journey.

Missing Brit Hamish Harding spoke of the importance of ‘taking steps before they go wrong’ in a revealing interview with a Dubai-based media outlet

The deep-sea voyage was meant to happen end of December but was delayed multiple times until Sunday, when he and four other explorers boarded the Titan submersible. Pictured is the OceanGate Expeditions submersible

‘I haven’t really had a chance to feel nervous yet and I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve wanted to go into space all my life,’ he told the UAE’s The National newspaper at the time. 

TIMELINE OF MISSING SUBMERSIBLE TITAN

8am Sunday: Titan submerges around 900 miles east of Cape Cod 

9.45am: Polar Prince expedition ship loses contact with the submersible

5.40pm: Coast Guard first alerted to the missing sub 

9.13pm: Canadian Coast Guard alerted 

Thursday at 8am: 96 hours of oxygen runs out  

After landing back on Earth, Harding said he already had the submarine trip lined up and was excited about exploring the Titanic.

The deep-sea voyage was meant to happen end of December but was delayed multiple times until Sunday, when he and four other explorers boarded the Titan submersible.

Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman are among the other passengers on the Titan.

Reports said French Navy pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and the boss of tour company OceanGate, Stockton Rush, are also on board.

Harding also told Abu Dhabi based The National that his family had grown accustomed to his extreme senes of adventure-seeking.

‘My family’s got pretty used to it. Every year I’ll go off and do something a bit unusual, and so I don’t think they worry too much,’ he said.

In Dubai, where the British billionaire who has a Guinness world record for the longest duration spent at the bottom of the sea lives, his wife Linda is believed to be waiting for news.

A major search and rescue operation, being led by the US Coastguard and involving military aircraft, is under way.

OceanGate Expeditions said its focus was on those aboard the vessel and their families. The vessel is pictured above

The 21ft submersible has an oxygen supply of up to 96 hours 

OceanGate Expeditions said its focus was on those aboard the vessel and their families.

‘We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible,’ the company said in a statement. ‘We are working toward the safe return of the crew members.’

Last year, Harding flew on board New Shepard, as part of the Blue Origin NS-21 mission,– one of six to go to space on the flight. In 2021, he dived into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, the deepest point on Earth and before that, in 2019, he flew around the world in a record-breaking flight with Nasa astronaut Terry Virts.

In the interview with Arabian Gulf Business Insights, he even spoke of his admiration for Jeff Bezos, the man he said he would choose as his dream mentor.

‘He built up a fantastic company – we all use Amazon – and then he reinvested some of the profits from Amazon in Blue Origin,’ he said. ‘I was so impressed by the whole operation. He’s not trying to make a return on equity. He is trying to do something very special for humanity, getting millions of people into space over the next few decades.’

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